InStep Trail Races, 7 miler - September 15, 2018
time = 1:10:27
pace = 10:03
placed 1 in my age group (45-49) out of 6
placed 6 in women out of 42
placed 19 overall out of 72
link to strava data
as always this is my favorite race of the season and i was going to run it whether i ran or walked the whole thing. i was unable to run highcliff for the 2nd year in a row. so disappointing. so i just decided i was going to sit back and do other things. i rode my bike. i rollerskated... and i ran a little bit.
going into this race i hadn't run the 8 days prior. before that i had only run a handful of miles each week because it seemed like something was always hurting. it's been my right butt since i injured my back in 2016 and i think that has trickled into other things as i overcompensated for the back thing. going into the race i was coming off a right knee injury that prevented me from running for a whole month and then i rolled my left ankle at lapham a couple weeks before and that is what kept me from running the week before the race.
going into the race i had very low expectations. i decided to take a little mile warm up to see where my body was at. NOTHING HURT! i felt good and decided that i would race the race instead of just running it. i pushed on hills i would normally have walked and i bombed the downhills with abandon.
i was slower than last year, but not by much and for not having run consistently in over 2 years i'm pretty happy with my results. my butt still hurts almost all the time. i'm just waiting for my back to heal and then (supposedly) my butt will stop hurting as the nerve will no longer be compressed. i guess we'll see.
please come run this race next year. it is really the perfect easy trail and so much fun each and every time. i love lapham peak so much.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Friday, June 29, 2018
update
i started the 7 day course of steroids last week. finished them up on wednesday of this week. i can say this... my butt doesn't hurt nearly like it has. there's still discomfort when i stretch but not like before the steroids so maybe i'm on the mend... we'll see.
in the meantime, i'm just going to run and try and build up my endurance. i mean, i'm still walking when running 3 road miles so there's that. its disappointing but i know what i'm capable of and with some steady training i should be able to run the high cliff 25K i've got coming up in august. it's time to put together a training plan and get at it.
in the meantime, i'm just going to run and try and build up my endurance. i mean, i'm still walking when running 3 road miles so there's that. its disappointing but i know what i'm capable of and with some steady training i should be able to run the high cliff 25K i've got coming up in august. it's time to put together a training plan and get at it.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
the pain in the ass - exposed!
PSA: just ignore my little butthole and look for the arrows.
turns out that it’s MY BACK! causing the pain in my butt!
i have swollen tissues squishing my nerves on the right side (see pic 1) in my lowest vertebrae (see pic 2). this back injury occurred on october 1st, 2016.
at crossfit...
swinging a kettlebell that was too heavy for the amount of time i was swinging it.
i was fairly new to cf at the time and likely had poor, uncorrected form... so i got injured.
the solution at this point is oral steroids and time. the doc also wants me to go to zero drop shoes so there’s that...
turns out that it’s MY BACK! causing the pain in my butt!
i have swollen tissues squishing my nerves on the right side (see pic 1) in my lowest vertebrae (see pic 2). this back injury occurred on october 1st, 2016.
at crossfit...
swinging a kettlebell that was too heavy for the amount of time i was swinging it.
i was fairly new to cf at the time and likely had poor, uncorrected form... so i got injured.
the solution at this point is oral steroids and time. the doc also wants me to go to zero drop shoes so there’s that...
mystery solved i guess. the good news is that i'm not hurting anything by running... my back is going to take time to heal and in the meantime the residual pain i'm experiencing in my butt on the right side is akin to sciatic pain... the doc thinks that it will go away as the swelling goes down and stops compressing the nerves. so i'm running and it's awesome!
Sunday, June 10, 2018
the challenge continues... one.day.at.a.time
running is proving to be quite the challenging endeavor. i've had this pain in the upper part of my right hamstring connecting to my glute (literally in the crack of my ass) for over a year now. i went to see my primary care physician, dr. bradley, in the beginning of may for this. i thought maybe i tore something given how long it's hurt and no amount of rest has solved it.
so i see him and he can't find anything significant that is causing the pain. so he sends me to an orthopedic sports med doc, dr. edwards. i go see this guy and his assistant doc does all the work which is only notable because it annoyed me. anyway... the helper doctor did the exam and then i had to have x-rays done because insurance won't pay for an MRI until that has been done. so x-rays show nothing wrong... bones are perfect and everything is fine there.
last week i had the MRI, which incidentally made me feel quite icky, and now i guess i have to make another appointment with dr. edwards to figure out the treatment plan. i have no idea what the MRI says so i'm going to try and make an appointment next week to get that going.
this is all, however, neither here nor there to this particular story... just background i guess. i ran last week monday (only 3ish miles) and from the start of the run my left lower leg near my shin was shooting pain. i didn't think anything of it at first but it didn't go away. then the next day it hurt when i walked so i haven't run all week. i've been doing lots of dog walks instead but it's not quite the same. i need to run. i need to run for my mental health as much as for my physical health. the pain was in a weird place too so it isn't a shin splint... it's more to the inside of my foot before the ankle bone and then shoots up to about the middle of my leg but to the inside of where a shin splint would typically be. today it doesn't hurt at all so we will see if i can get back to running tomorrow.
i read something really awesome on the facebook the other day. a friend of mine, and fellow runner, that i admire posted the following:
so i see him and he can't find anything significant that is causing the pain. so he sends me to an orthopedic sports med doc, dr. edwards. i go see this guy and his assistant doc does all the work which is only notable because it annoyed me. anyway... the helper doctor did the exam and then i had to have x-rays done because insurance won't pay for an MRI until that has been done. so x-rays show nothing wrong... bones are perfect and everything is fine there.
last week i had the MRI, which incidentally made me feel quite icky, and now i guess i have to make another appointment with dr. edwards to figure out the treatment plan. i have no idea what the MRI says so i'm going to try and make an appointment next week to get that going.
this is all, however, neither here nor there to this particular story... just background i guess. i ran last week monday (only 3ish miles) and from the start of the run my left lower leg near my shin was shooting pain. i didn't think anything of it at first but it didn't go away. then the next day it hurt when i walked so i haven't run all week. i've been doing lots of dog walks instead but it's not quite the same. i need to run. i need to run for my mental health as much as for my physical health. the pain was in a weird place too so it isn't a shin splint... it's more to the inside of my foot before the ankle bone and then shoots up to about the middle of my leg but to the inside of where a shin splint would typically be. today it doesn't hurt at all so we will see if i can get back to running tomorrow.
i read something really awesome on the facebook the other day. a friend of mine, and fellow runner, that i admire posted the following:
this post happened at the exact time that i needed to see it. i've been beating myself up because my pace is so slow and the runs are consistently difficult with no "easy" in sight. i regularly mourn the days when running 12 miles was easy and fun for me with barely any walk breaks. today i sometimes can't even make it a mile before i walk a little. it's humbling at best and heartbreaking at worst. i won't run with friends because i'm embarrassed that i have to walk and i don't want to be the damper that makes everyone walk all the time. it's a hard pill to swallow. i know it's all in my head (from personal experience) because when i would run with people slower than me or who needed to walk more than me it wasn't a bother. it was a welcome reprieve from pushing myself. i enjoy running with people and maybe would recover better if i did so. i just don't want to be a bother to another runner.
so i'm taking it one day at a time and hopefully the MRI has some answers.
speaking of the MRI. i experienced some really weird things during and after so i decided to research it and see if MRIs are known to effect people in a negative way. i found some interesting articles on it proving that i'm not weird. lol! if you like that sort of thing you can read the stuff i found: here, here, here, and here. during the MRI i could feel it in my right wrist. i have a permanent plate in that wrist and while there was no pain... it was weird cuz my wrist felt different than the rest of my body. i cannot describe how it felt different... just that i could feel it and maybe it was achy sort of ? besides that... when the scans were over, i was in there for about an hour for several different scans, i just felt icky. i didn't feel good. i don't know how to describe that either as i couldn't put my finger on it. i went in feeling great. happy, upbeat, ready to run afterwards... then when it was over and i was leaving i felt gross. i was unmotivated, not happy anymore, and tired. i also felt physically just icky for lack of a better word. i went home and walked the dogs with my husband and talked about the ick. so... keep that in mind if you're going to have an MRI done. you might be effected by it in a weird way or you might not. i can tell you this... i have no desire to have another one done anytime soon.
Monday, May 28, 2018
the pain in the butt saga continues...
last thursday i saw an orthopedic sports medicine doc. i was referred to this guy by my pcp for the pain in my literal ass. my pcp didn't think anything was torn but thought the pain might be due to the bursa sac or scarring around my hamstring... so i went and saw this new guy.
they did x-rays because that's what you have to do before insurance will pay for an mri. x-rays were fine. my bones are apparently beautiful and my spine has the perfect amount of spacing where all the spaces are supposed to be. that's good news because we were worried about my spine since it has hurt since october of 2015 due to the whole kettlebell swing accident. anyhoo... back is fine. all bones are fine... next thing to do is look at the soft tissues.
soooooo... they're communicating with my insurance to see if it's covered and then i will get scheduled for the mri. in the meantime, my butt hurts after i run.
i'm just thankful that it doesn't hurt when i actually am running. turns out... the butt thing has been around for more than a year. i wrote briefly about it in my iceage DNF race report.
the doc thinks its a tear and the mri will tell us how much of a tear. if it's under a certain percentage then the next step is a cortisone shot. if its more than a certain percentage then it might be a surgical issue. the doc doesn't think it will be a surgical issue. fingers crossed that the shot stops the pain... it's getting real tiresome.
they did x-rays because that's what you have to do before insurance will pay for an mri. x-rays were fine. my bones are apparently beautiful and my spine has the perfect amount of spacing where all the spaces are supposed to be. that's good news because we were worried about my spine since it has hurt since october of 2015 due to the whole kettlebell swing accident. anyhoo... back is fine. all bones are fine... next thing to do is look at the soft tissues.
soooooo... they're communicating with my insurance to see if it's covered and then i will get scheduled for the mri. in the meantime, my butt hurts after i run.
i'm just thankful that it doesn't hurt when i actually am running. turns out... the butt thing has been around for more than a year. i wrote briefly about it in my iceage DNF race report.
the doc thinks its a tear and the mri will tell us how much of a tear. if it's under a certain percentage then the next step is a cortisone shot. if its more than a certain percentage then it might be a surgical issue. the doc doesn't think it will be a surgical issue. fingers crossed that the shot stops the pain... it's getting real tiresome.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Beartrax 10K
Beartrax 10K
time = 1:04:49
pace = 10:29
placed 4 in my age group (40-49) out of 20
placed 10 in women out of 53
placed 21 overall out of 78
link to strava data
as ll cool j would say... "don't call it a comeback" of course that's not quite the context that (i assume) ll would have liked this reference to pertain to... but that's neither here nor there.
it's been a strange 7 months since i've last dropped some words here. i've not had much to report so i guess i just haven't. i am thinking this may be the jump off to my running consistently again. time will tell... it's been a rough road getting to this mental space. besides that my shorts are extra medium on my booty currently... it's gotten a bit bigger since i've been sitting on it instead of running.
let's get on to the race report tho'... shall we?
freaking beartrax! i love lapham. i love lapham so much. i don't think i could ever have a bad run there. so my running has been sporadic at best with a total of 93 miles run in 2018 with a goal of 1400 miles of which i am SOOOO BEHIND to the tune of 370 miles. ya take what ya can get i suppose. i signed up for this race because well... why not?
i didn't run the entire month prior to racing... for various reasons but mostly because wisconsin has shitty weather and when running is hard (read: when i haven't been doing it and therefore am not conditioned) i hate running in cold weather so i just... don't.
i decided to go into the race knowing deep in the recesses of my over-competitive soul that i would not be doing well and therefore i should run when i can, walk when i must, and be 100% ok with however it turns out. so that's just what i did.
it was beautiful. this is the 2nd year that they've offered a 10k option and i'm so glad they do. it's the perfect distance of a run to see everything, take in all the beauty of the park, and not get overwhelmed with difficulty. that's not to say that this wasn't difficult... it was SO VERY DIFFICULT! however, that's only because i am very very deconditioned.
i ran when i could and walked when my lungs told me i had to and then i ran some more. at the end i was going back and forth with a woman as i bomb the downhills and she ran the uphills. in the end i gave up and let her get away at the finish because well... i wasn't actually racing. i was just running and living my best life.
turns out... i did very very well for not racing and not having run in a month. lol! guess i was competitive after all.
the weather was beautiful! so completely different than last year's race. last year i ran the 20k as a training run for the iceage 50k.
i really don't have much to say about this... i'm trying to get my running legs back. the race was beautiful per usual. lapham peak is amazing per usual.
on a different note... thanks to scott walker defunding our state parks there is not enough money for maintenance anymore. therefore several of the wooden towers were torn down from various parks over the past year or two because there were safety concerns and no money to make the repairs... so the easiest thing to do? tear them down.
this is now a concern at the tower at lapham peak. if you read this please write our esteemed governor and complain. this is bullshit. hopefully, the report comes back that our tower is not in disrepair and can continue to stand tall and proud. so many people come out to the state parks to see these towers. they certainly are majestic and the views are spectacular. if it comes back that the tower needs to be repaired... there will likely be a go fund me with the lapham peak tower's name on it. we cannot let our parks be torn apart because some assholes don't value nature.
with that said... sunday was a good day.
time = 1:04:49
pace = 10:29
placed 4 in my age group (40-49) out of 20
placed 10 in women out of 53
placed 21 overall out of 78
link to strava data
as ll cool j would say... "don't call it a comeback" of course that's not quite the context that (i assume) ll would have liked this reference to pertain to... but that's neither here nor there.
it's been a strange 7 months since i've last dropped some words here. i've not had much to report so i guess i just haven't. i am thinking this may be the jump off to my running consistently again. time will tell... it's been a rough road getting to this mental space. besides that my shorts are extra medium on my booty currently... it's gotten a bit bigger since i've been sitting on it instead of running.
let's get on to the race report tho'... shall we?
freaking beartrax! i love lapham. i love lapham so much. i don't think i could ever have a bad run there. so my running has been sporadic at best with a total of 93 miles run in 2018 with a goal of 1400 miles of which i am SOOOO BEHIND to the tune of 370 miles. ya take what ya can get i suppose. i signed up for this race because well... why not?
i didn't run the entire month prior to racing... for various reasons but mostly because wisconsin has shitty weather and when running is hard (read: when i haven't been doing it and therefore am not conditioned) i hate running in cold weather so i just... don't.
i decided to go into the race knowing deep in the recesses of my over-competitive soul that i would not be doing well and therefore i should run when i can, walk when i must, and be 100% ok with however it turns out. so that's just what i did.
it was beautiful. this is the 2nd year that they've offered a 10k option and i'm so glad they do. it's the perfect distance of a run to see everything, take in all the beauty of the park, and not get overwhelmed with difficulty. that's not to say that this wasn't difficult... it was SO VERY DIFFICULT! however, that's only because i am very very deconditioned.
i ran when i could and walked when my lungs told me i had to and then i ran some more. at the end i was going back and forth with a woman as i bomb the downhills and she ran the uphills. in the end i gave up and let her get away at the finish because well... i wasn't actually racing. i was just running and living my best life.
turns out... i did very very well for not racing and not having run in a month. lol! guess i was competitive after all.
the weather was beautiful! so completely different than last year's race. last year i ran the 20k as a training run for the iceage 50k.
i really don't have much to say about this... i'm trying to get my running legs back. the race was beautiful per usual. lapham peak is amazing per usual.
on a different note... thanks to scott walker defunding our state parks there is not enough money for maintenance anymore. therefore several of the wooden towers were torn down from various parks over the past year or two because there were safety concerns and no money to make the repairs... so the easiest thing to do? tear them down.
this is now a concern at the tower at lapham peak. if you read this please write our esteemed governor and complain. this is bullshit. hopefully, the report comes back that our tower is not in disrepair and can continue to stand tall and proud. so many people come out to the state parks to see these towers. they certainly are majestic and the views are spectacular. if it comes back that the tower needs to be repaired... there will likely be a go fund me with the lapham peak tower's name on it. we cannot let our parks be torn apart because some assholes don't value nature.
with that said... sunday was a good day.
 |
| me, nichole, and andrea post-race |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)